Sun Tzu and The Art of War for Contractors & Careers

Success in all aspects of life has to do with how effectively you align your opportunities and resources.

D. Brown Management Profile Picture
Share

Take on too much and you spread yourself too thin, introducing excessive stress, risk, and potentially failing in an unrecoverable way.  

Taking on too little will leave you with wasted potential and won’t create the right levels of stress that develops character, relationships, and capabilities.    

Taking on the wrong things won’t be fulfilling in the long-term, so it isn’t truly sustainable.

Quote: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy or yourself, you will succumb in every battle. Sun Tzu

PLANNING STARTS A GOOD INVENTORY


Know yourself deeply, including what you are really good at and what you aren’t so great at. Know what you love doing and what you don’t like doing.   

Understand your customer’s true needs, both stated and unstated.  

Know comparatively how you and your competition fulfill those needs. Be very honest with yourself about how your respective strengths and weaknesses are evaluated by the customer.



Related Training

Field Productivity Grand Slam
When contractors are truly successful at improving their field productivity it is like Mickey Mantle’s pivotal Grand Slam during game 5 of the 1953 World Series. The bases are loaded. You are at bat. The Big Four productivity home runs:
Managing Communications During the Preconstruction Process
Customer satisfaction and project success is largely determined by how effective the communications are managed during the preconstruction process.
Production Tracking - Lessons Learned
Look at productivity as a daily “Jar” where your objective is to pack as much “Earned Value” into it as possible. Look at your costs in three major categories and focus on tracking what matters the most.